Abstract

Abstract: Nietzsche and the Early Romantic Concept of Critique. Nietzsche is usually considered a fierce critic of romanticism. It is often overlooked, however, that his criticism mainly concerns the late European romanticism, while his attitude towards early German romanticism is characterized by appreciative ambivalence. In light of the early romantic concept of criticism, this paper exa-mines the affinities between Nietzsche and two important representatives of early philosophical Romanticism: Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis. Specifically, it exhi-bits the systematic continuity a) between the concept of romanticising (romanti-sieren) and Nietzsche’s perspectivism, and b) between the early romantic idea of ‘infinite reflection’ and Nietzsche’s talk of a ‘new infinity’.